Indian-American Indicted For Campaign Finance Fraud

Saturday, 25 January 2014, 02:12 IST
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New York: Indian-American filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza, who had made a documentary on U.S. President Barack Obama, has been indicted on charges of violating federal campaign finance laws.

The filmmaker from San Diego, California has been charged with one count of causing USD 20,000 in illegal campaign contributions to be made to a candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2012, Manhattan's India-born prosecutor Preet Bharara said.

The charge carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison.

The 52-year-old filmmaker is also charged with one count of making false statements to the Federal Election Commission in connection with the illegal campaign contributions, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

A former president of The King's College in New York, D'Souza is expected to be presented and arraigned today in Manhattan court before US District Judge Richard Berman.

In announcing the indictment, Bharara said his office and the FBI have a "zero tolerance approach to corruption of the electoral process. If, as alleged, the defendant directed others to make contributions to a Senate campaign and reimbursed them, that is a serious violation of federal campaign finance laws."

FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge George Venizelos said D'Souza finds himself on the wrong side of the law since trying to influence elections through bogus campaign contributions is a serious crime.
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Source: PTI
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